KIMT News 3 – As more offices begin expand throughout the country, so are the treatments provided to cure pains you wouldn’t have expected.

It’s one of the world’s leading all natural health care professions and it’s growing rapidly in our area.

In our lifetimes, odds are we will never know what it feels like to lift 900 pounds above our bodies.

Jake Prazak of N.I.P Fitness is one of very few people on this earth to claim such a feat.

In fact, he currently holds the world bench press record of 920 lbs for his weight class and according to him, he owes it all to chiropractic care.

“I heard from somebody else that chiropractic care can help migraine just from alignment issues and it helped me out tremendously. What followed from that was doing it for the physical purposes,” said Prazak.

Jake, like many athletes around the world is discovering the all natural benefits that chiropractic care can have on the body.

Some of the world’s best athletes have used chiropractic care for everything from regular adjustments to physical therapy.

In Jake’s case, he goes to Haas chiropractic in Mason City, where Dr. David Haas works to treat complaints, such as headaches and joint pain without the help of medicine or surgery.

“What we’re talking about is conservative care. Conservative care would be possible with more non-drug related or prescriptive medication, non-surgical. Obviously the risks are gonna be much less utilizing conservative care. Costs are gonna be much less utilizing that type of care,” said Haas.

Iowa has a long history of chiropractic care.

The first chiropractic clinic in the country opened in davenport back in 18-95 and since then offices continue to expand all over our area.

Within just a 20 mile radius of Mason City, more than 20 different locations serve more than eight communities and it’s not just offices expanding, as Dr. Haas explains, so are the services they provide.

“Other types of things that we see in chiropractic may help people with sinus and allergy issues. People that have digestive problems, women with menstrual cycle problems as far as the pain associated with that. Headaches are a big one too, migraine sufferers. So again there are many things that we can do,” said Haas.

The standard of care today however still starts and ends with a visit to the doctor’s office, with only 20 percent of Americans regularly visiting a chiropractor.

Dr. Charity Baker of West Fork Family Medicine says she’s not opposed to patients experimenting with chiropractic care but says it shouldn’t replace your visit to your physician.

“Have you had your mammogram, have you had a pap smear, have you had a prostate exam? Those types of things that you wouldn’t get on a visit if you came in for a problem. Say you come in for a sore throat; you wouldn’t be offered any of these yearly screening things if you don’t come in for an annual visit,” said Baker.

For some patients, the choice may come down to cost.

According to a study by the Archives of Internal Medicine, chiropractic care cut the costs of treating back pain by 28 percent.

However, most insurance providers only cover initial visits and do not cover maintenance or wellness treatments.
for a visit to your doctor, check-ups may be covered through your insurance providers but the costs of medicine or surgery could rack up your bill before you know it.

“You can be an informed patient before you go to the doctor. If you come in and you think you have Scabies, you can Google Scabies before you get here and you can know what the treatment is and you can make sure that I give the treatment or you can at least ask me,” said Baker.

While benching 900 pounds may not be in her near future, those like Sierra Roch of Mason City who make regular visits to both types of doctors, say they’re opting to experiment with non-traditional treatments.

“Some people wake up late at night and I keep waking up and stuff. Ever since I’ve been going here, I don’t wake up as much and it’s easier. Like when I run or get up in the morning, my back doesn’t hurt,” said Roch.

Doctor Baker and Doctor Haas seem to agree that each form of treatment is unique to patients giving them the freedom to use both services in unison.

Whether they actually do, is up to them.

Until then, experts only see chiropractic care expanding their reach more and more in the future.

“Now with research the way it’s going the latest statistics on chiropractic are fantastic and we’re starting to see that the medical profession is embracing it as well,” said Haas.

The American Chiropractic Association estimates that more than $50 billion is spent each year on back pain, which is also the leading cause of disability.

That includes everything from surgery to prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines.

For more information on how to find a chiropractor in your neighborhood visit the American Chiropractic Associations website at: http://www.acatoday.org